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tv   MSNBC Live  MSNBC  February 24, 2012 8:00am-9:00am PST

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in michigan where mitt romney is trying to steal the deal just four days before primary day, but team obama and the unions are joining forces to try the put the brakes on any romney momentum. rick santorum surging with republican women? according to a new poll, gop women have no problem with his opposition to contraception, but independent women, that's a different story. after on -- >> and caught in the danger zone. atila captured this scene in the afghan capital. the anger over the koran burning controversy threatening to boil over. i'm luke russert and here's what's on the agenda today. mitt romney going all in in michigan. on what his campaign touts as a major economic address in just
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over an hour. romney is trying to snatch a victory, betting that his jobs message will make the difference on tuesday against rick santorum. but his real political goal might not be rick santorum, but president obama. his campaign is out with this new ad touting the auto bailout. >> made in america. for generations of michigan auto workers, it's more than a slogan, it's a way of life. but when a million jobs were on the line, every republican candidate turned their back. even said let detroit go bankrupt. no him. >> let's talk about the state of the 2012 race with ted strickland and michael steele, msnbc analyst and former rnc chairman. thanks for joining us. >> governor, i want to go to you first. president obama won michigan in
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2008 by 17 points, but he seems to be on the air with this ad already in that state. why is he on the air? is it a fear that perhaps he's got a place in catch up in that state or maybe the numbers we've seen are inflated or just trying to seal the deal and put it away early? >> he has a good story to tell. not only for michigan, but for ohio and any state where autos are produced or auto parts are produced. it's a great story. this industry is alive today because of president obama's decisive action and i think that's the story we ought to applaud and celebrate and to draw the contrast between what the president had planned and what mr. romney and other republican candidates would have done had they been in the oval office when the auto industry was in need of this kind of help. >> let's talk about that. i want to put a graphic here on the screen from "the new york times" op-ed by mr. rattner here. he said quote the gist is that
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the government should have stayed on the sidelines and allowed the companies to go through what he calls managed bankruptcy. financed by private capital. that sounds sensible, except that it's utter fantasy. michael steele, is that utter fantasy? >> it's not. you have the tale of two automakers at the same time with ford and gm comparatively difficult positions during the height of this economic downturn and how both came through it. the problem with the gm story is that it's not done and the reality of it is the government still owns close to 27% of gm stock. the auto unions own 17 to 18% of gm stock and so, we're still heavily leveraged as a nation in our ownership of gm and so there's a lot that still rides on the outcome. it's great to have these numbers now, but no one knows what the long-term management structure is going to be and how it's going the look on the other
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side, so there's still a lot of ground to cover here, so all the pats on the back and flying commercials with the flag and a u.s. made car in it is great theatre, but there's still an underlying structural economic question that has not been addressed. >> governor strickland, you have a very inspiring story i believe you didn't have running water in your house until you were in your teens. i think folks would consider you pretty blue collar politician. who would you rather face as a democrat? rick santorum or mitt romney and his more well to do upbringing? >> that's a conflictual question. we ought to be talking about jobs and mr. santorum wabts to talk about contraception and we ought to be talking about jobs and mitt romney took actions quite frankly that would have decimated communities like youngstown, ohio and toledo,
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ohio and cleveland, ohio. in the midst of the auto crisis. honda officials came to the governor's residence on a sunday evening to advocate for government intervention to help the big three and why did they do that? they said we don't normally advocate for our competitors, but the supply chain is the same for us as for the big three and it is very fragile. they were afraid that the supply chain, the auto parts makers would collapse if any one of the big three -- >> it sounds like you would run against romney then. >> well, i think it's going to be easy to run against whoever the republicans put up among the four remaining candidates. >> all right. want to get to one thing. one issue which is going to have a lot of effect is gas price is. i want to play what president obama said yesterday in miami. >> only in politics do people root for bad news.
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where they greet bad news so enthusiastically. you pay more, they're licking their chops. you can bet that since it's an election year, they're already dusting off their three point plan for $2 gas. that's the easiest thing in the world to make phony election year promises about lower gas prices. >> mike, how happy are your former, your old colleagues at the rnc right now, the high gas prices? that has to be a huge blessing for the gop. >> what's a blessing can also be a curse. i said it in 2008 and i'll say it again, drill, baby, drill. there's so much more than we can be doing here at home that we haven't done. i didn't hear him say what his strategy's going to be to bring that gas price down. where's the u.s. energy policy right now? there isn't one. even going back to the bush administration, so the reality of it is that you know, the president right now is going to
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do the rhetorical dance and flare, we get it, but the policy is really the punch line that everyone's looking for and if republicans, whether it's newt gingrich, rick santorum or mitt romney or whomever is talking specifics about how they will move the country back to $2 gas, then that's part of the discussion. mr. president, put yours on the table and see where we line up. >> governor strickland, can president obama weather these difficult gas prices on the horizon? >> absolutely. because we are less dependent on foreign oil now than when president obama became president. we are producing more domestic oil now. since the president has been in office. we are doing more to produce domestic resources in america today. and you know, the economy's improving. it's improving in ohio and throughout the midwest and throughout the rest of the country and the republicans will look for whatever they can criticize, but to blame the president for high gas prices i
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think is stretching it and i think the president has here again, another story to tell about what he has already done to make america less dependent on foreign oil and to produce it at home. >> $5 a gallon gasoline could be quite the october surprise for president obama. you need to see how this issue plays out. thank you so much for joining us, guys. the fear of $5 a gallon gas are growing, but the frustration felt at gas stations isn't stopping a wall street surge. the dow jones once again hugging the 13,000 mark, but a consumer backlash can pose more problems down the road. let's bring in ron insana. he joins us now and i want to talk to you about, put this under the screen right now. little graphic. gas prices now are $3.65 a
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gallon. one month ago, 3:38. a year ago, 3:23. what is going to be the long-term economic impact of this throughout the rest of the year? >> not sure. question is are these prices sustainable? are we going to see $4 gas, which we're close in in some cities already. are we going to see $5 gas this summer? a lot has to do with the rising tensions in iran and worries about a cutoff of supplies there has pushed oil prices rather dramatically higher both in europe and here at home. so that seems to be the most critical wild card and to the extent that europe is getting its act together, oil prices have bounced back a little bit. so, away from the presidential political arena, there's some real stuff going on here that's putting oil prices higher than they normally would be this time of year. >> tim geithner spoke on cnbc this morning about iran and the effect it could have on gas prices. let's take a listen to that. >> but obviously iran can do a lot of damage to the global
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economy and we're working very ca carefully to try to minimize that risk. if iran is successful in its nuclear ambitions, the world and oil markets and the global economy and stability in the region would be in jeopardy. >> ron, isn't it ironic that here you have obama and geithner, people have tried to do everything in their power to turn around the direction of the economy, but their electoral fate could be in the hands of things they have no control of such as iran and whether or not energy can go through the strait of hormuz. >> the thing that blind sides you is the thing that trips you up politically. nobody expects this, that the obama administration would be warning israel not to hit 100 potential nuclear sites in iran and the reality, at least according to some is that it could happen. it's a foreign policy problem that has huge implications for the domestic economy. now, if spring and summer pass and nothing happens and the driving season comes and goes,
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prices could fall back down. just a note on domestic production. crude oil protection is up 18% since 2008. we're now the largest natural gas producer surpassing russia. we're an exporter of refined energy products in 62 years, so there's a lot happening to increase the supply, but the concerns are about what's going on in the middle east. there are only 16% of our import, believe it or not. we get more from canada and mexico than the gulf area, so that's turning in our favor, but these tensions always influence prices. >> i know you're a money guy, but i like your political opinion, so i want to get your opinion on this. i did some research today and if you look at the price of gas in president bush's first term, in january of 2001, 1.51 a gallon. price of gas obama's first term,
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we don't know in january of 2012, but if we're going to 3.65 now possibly to 5, what does your gut tell you that ramifications are on that? >> $5 is a new number. $4 during katrina, on a couple of different occasions. i don't think that would have a long-term political effect on the environment. $5 gas is a new number and that psychologically and real economic terms could be really damaging to the economy and the political landscape if you're the president. now, whether or not we get there is an open question. i think the people who study this rightly point out that demand from emerging market nations is up. china. political inl stability in the middle east. as both michael steele and ted strickland said, to a certain extent, oil prices have little to do with at the moment, presidential policies, but one way the president could help himself would be to approve that xl pipeline and keep the canadian oil coming in. keep supplies up in order to
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hold prices down. >> i have a feeling we'll hear more about the keystone pipeline before the election. ron insana, thanks for joining us. dwoming news out of syria where rebel forces are repeatedly working, reportedly working rather, to get their hands on antitank and aircraft weapons. secretary of state hillary clinton is joining world diplomats in tunisia today and calling on president assad to stop firing on his own people. this is the first time western and arab powers are holding a so-called friends of syria meeting to discuss the brutal government crackdown. president obama's apology to the people of afghanistan has done little to quiet angry protesters rioting over koran burning at the nato military base. atia captured this video in kabul. you can actually see her running
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away from the gunfire. she joins me now from kabul. we had a lot of questions yesterday about whether or not individuals in the mosques would friday prayers would tell their followers to protest against the united states. what has been the message so far in records of burning of the koran? >> reporter: that's a great question because the majority of the people here in afghanistan were really worried on what these imams and mullahs would be preaching friday and as we saw today, there were areas where protesters did come out. there were mullahs and imams telling them to go out and range against the burning of the koran. what we also saw was the fact that there were a lot of imams and mullahs in afghanistan who were actually preaching the opposite. they said that the koran does not back killing.
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it doesn't allow killing in any way, even if it is westerners. we had our own producer attend one of these friday prayers. another local producer went to another mosque where he had friday parayers and what the imm said was the afghans had no right to protest and kill because many aftghans and muslis haven't fully accepted the koran because if they had, they would know this is wrong. >> please stay safe. we really appreciate it. newt gingrich hitting the campaign. i'm sorry, hitting the president on foreign policy and he doesn't stop there. can he make a comeback or are his presidential aspirations over? plus, buddy roamer drops his bid for the republican nomination, but his presidential hopes are still alive. he joins me next. you do not want to miss that. [ man ] predicting the future is hard.
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when i announced for president a year ago, i announced my independence from the indebtness of the big and special interest money and we are prepared to challenge both parties who are joined at the billfold. >> after months of being blocked from the republican debate stage, buddy roemer is changing lanes on his road to the white house. presidential candidate and forler louisiana governor, buddy roemer is seeking the nomination of the reform party. he joins me now. governor, thanks so much for being on the show. >> thanks, luke. thanks for having me. >> obviously, you know that you need to sort of get 15% support at some point to participate in these debates and the commission on presidential debates are obviously coming up. do you believe that is possible for your candidacy? >> i do.
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the largest segment of the american population described themselves as independent. and it's the only segment of democratic republican independent. it's the only segment that's growing. and when i travel across america, which i've done for the last year, listening to people, they have the same anxiety regardless of their party. they don't think washington's broken. they think it's bought. my contributions, for example, i don't take anything more than $100. i take no pac money. i never have. i've been elected a congressman four time, governor of louisiana, no pac money. no super pac money. $100 or less. do you know my contributions are 30% democratic, 30% republican and 40% independent. that's a -- that's what i'm appealing to. if you think we need to rebuild america, tax reform, budget reform, immigration reform,
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trade reform, bank reform, health care reform, it's not going to happen because these guys are bought and sold. >> because you're lack of positioninging in the polls though, we do not have the opportunity to see you on the debate stage when you were running for the republican nomination, so a question for you. obviously foreign policy would be important to you if you were to become president of the united states. your nsa avider calls you and says nato troops, american troops have burned a koran. there's a lot of upset people in afghanistan. what does president roemer do. >> well, they should be upset. it would be like we had a force in our country who decided to burn a stack of bibles or the constitution or the declaration of independence and as president, i would view it that way. i would call the leaders of the country immediately and i think our president has done that correctly. i would apologize profusely.
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they would be effects on the troops and particularly, the leaders who made that decision and we would pledge that would not happen again. >> a website sort of trying to support third party candidacy has some interesting sort of numbers in terms of what folks would like to see. you see ron paul there is number one. governor jon huntsman, number two, bernie sanders, number three. president obama, mayor bloomberg, buddy roemer, most online support. you're number six, but behind paul and huntsman and bernie sanders, who's not even in the race. why are you so far behind there? >> well, i think i'm relatively unknown, luke. i've been a congressman and a governor. the only person running for president who's done that. i've built a billion dollar bank in the last six years. i've been in private business. i'm not a lawyer, a lobbyist and
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i've been out of the limelight. i've been doing what americans do. work to build their families, their companies, their fortune, their income and i didn't think i'd ever be in politics again, luke, but i've watched washington bought and sold on health care, on energy policy. i've been to china many times and i see our country being played the fool. we talking about automobiles early on your show. china just raised the import fee for american automobiles by 22%. and you know what our president said? not a damn thing. we need leadership. we need planning. we need to build a country. not afghanistan. america. and i've come to the conclusion -- >> would you pull out on afghanistan? >> absolutely. >> unilaterally? >> absolutely. yes. here's what i would offer them. i would offer training of their infrastructure. not military presence in their
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country. a training of their police force. their justice system -- >> and how long would our trainers be there? >> it could be 5 or 10,000 men and women and they could be there for five years. >> so like advisers in vietnam. >> absolutely. >> it would be -- the john kennedy did. we need to quit sending cash money in terms of foreign support. we need to send ideas, management and teachers. by the way -- >> and governor roemer, you are a man of many ideas and for that, we appreciate you coming on the program today and good luck to you and thank you for being on the show and giving us your first interview as independent candidate. take care. rick santorum is a staunch opponent of abortion. out of step with many women on the issue of birth control, but it's not hurting him at the polls. even with women. plus, grimm diagnosis.
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another politics caught up in scandal. illegal donations in business dealings with a convicted felon. you don't want to miss that. the best approach to food is to keep it whole for better nutrition. that's what they do with great grains cereal. they steam and bake the actual whole grain while the other guy's flake is more processed. mmm. great grains. the whole whole grain cereal.
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have been treated for heart failure, or if, while on enbrel, you experience persistent fever, bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. michael grimm has been exactly that. grim. he's weatherering a media fire storm that amgs reports of illegal fund raising and a staffer arrested for allegedly hitting his teenage child. just the latest in a long line of new york politicians who have been plagued by a scandal. i'm joined by celeste, i want to talk about this grimm case. for our viewers who may not be caught up on to it, it's a pretty interesting case. he's a former fbi agent and he's alleged to have had business dealings from a foreign national
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from israel. but there have been thousands of dollars passed from this foreign national to grimm in envelopes in car drops, right? >> supposedly, that's one of the things that went on. there were allegations that they were actually handoffs of envelopes full of money that were supposed to be used for the xha campaign, that people were strongly encouraged to make donations over the legal limits of what's permitted in a congressal race, that people were otherwise asked to do things that would conceal the amount of their donations, so a lot of big parts here and of course, michael grimm says this is per postrouse, but a multifaceted story. >> what's it been sort t of behind the scenes in new york? the cover of "new york times" has sort of dissipated.
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are his republicans rallying around him? >> i think everyone to the extent of they can publicly tries to follow rageagareagan's command. is it a sense in new york that it is unless you are literally being led away in handcuffs that people get through this thing? i think we saw an image earlier of charlie rangel. did have some problems, some issues with ethics investigat n investigations and has not gotten away. >> really quickly, weiner, massa, rangel, chris lee, what's in the water in new york? >> i don't know. but you know, i think i'm going to stick to orange juice or something. it does seem to make its way around the city. >> political columnist for the new york daily news, enjoy that orange juice. what jeb bush is saying about the 2012 presidential field and it's not so nice.
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plus, drama already in a courtroom in new brunswick, new jersey. a former rutgers student charged with videotaping his roommate having sex with another man. that roommate later killed himself. a live report next from new jersey. can you enjoy vegetables with sauce and still reach your weight loss goals? you can with green giant frozen vegetables. over twenty delicious varieties have sixty calories or less per serving and are now weight watchers-endorsed. try green giant frozen vegetables with sauce. until the end of the quarter to think about your money... ♪ ...that right now, you want to know where you are, and where you'd like to be. we know you'd like to see the same information your advisor does so you can get a deeper understanding of what's going on with your portfolio.
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wait. ♪ it's morning in the himalayas... [ male announcer ] it's sweet. it's nutty. it's absolutely delicious. kellogg's crunchy nut. it's morning somewhere. maybe somewhat of a rukous maybe that he's not too excited with what the current field of republican candidates are saying, maybe focusing too much amongst themselves and not the issues. we have from politico, jim van dehide. i want to put up what jeb bush said. quote, i used to be conservative and i watched these debates and i'm wondering i don't think i've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people
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are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that's the kind of what we're seeing, that's the kind we are. jim, what -- it's pretty significant news for jeb bush to say this. he's pretty much calling out the final four here. what do you think caused this from jeb bush? >> the party is basically devoid of a party boss or leader, so there are few voices that can speak out and try to bring order to disorder in these processes. i think jeb bush is one of them. he's written and talked about how he thinks the republican party needs to reach out, bring hispanics into the fold, needs to bring other voters into the fold and he like so many other republicans, watched that debate, has been watching the last few weeks of this campaign and wondered what the heck is going on. is this really what our party's about. we're talking about contraception and marrow issues as opposed to talking about growing the economy, protecting
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the country and big issues he thinks republicans are strong on. this comes after several days of complaining by others. we had a piece by harris and a few others that talked of a bunch of others who are really worried about the narrow focus on this debate what it could mean. >> you are here in d.c. hear all the talk around town. broker convention possibility. karl rove said that's not going to happen. folks said it's mathematically difficult, but jeb bush just has to reenforce the rumors. >> there's lot of folk, lot of republicans who would love to see another candidate. whether it be now or at the convention. jeb bush and mitch daniels would be at the top of the list. maybe governor christie joining them, so yes, that's why it's significant because a lot of republicans would love for him to run.
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what rove is saying and others are saying, it's not going to happen. it is really just math matedly impossible. it would take a shock to the political system and republicans to get to the convention and pick something other than one of the four candidates that's in the race now. they had their chance. if jeb bush wanted to run, he could have. if mitch daniels wanted to run, he could. many delegates have been picked and getting on the ballot for a lot of these states is almost impossible at this point. that's why rove says it's virtually impossible. >> thanks so much for joining us. come on, he put you up to that. didn't he? >> he's overpaid already. >> be well. you're looking at live pictures inside a new jersey courtroom. the trial of former rutgers student, dharun ravi, facing a 15-count indictment after recording a sexual encounter between tyler clementi and another male student.
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clementi later committed suicide. here's one key moment from the morning. >> defendant's acts were not a prank. they were not an accident. and they were not a mistab. these acts were purposeful. they were intentional. and they were planned. and i would suggest to you that beyond that, they were mean spirited, malicious and they were criminal. >> craig melvin is live in new brunswick this morning and craig, this is a very unique case. give me a sort of sense of what the feeling is going on in the courtroom. we learned today that ravi could face a decade in prison. what else have we heard? >> reporter: as you just heard there, we heard hoping statements from the prosecution and defense and the first witness was called. a young man, austin cho, who spent a lot of time smiling and chuckling as we recounted some
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text message exchanges with ravi, the 19-year-old on trial facing 15 counts, up to a decade in prison. everything from invasion of privacy to hindering the prosecution and other charges as well. this is the case that really propelled teenage homophobia to the forefront of the conversation. tyler clementi, the 18-year-old who jumped to his death in the fall of 2010, just days after this became public. his roommate had shown a video to some friends of of clementi hooking up with a guy in his college dorm room and tweeted and texted about it after that. the prosecution saying that basically came in as a homophobic cyber bully, the defense admitting -- but said for the most part, is a college
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pranster. >> we're here for a reason. one reason. because the state of new jersey is representing by the middlesex county prosecutors office want you to believe, want you to believe that dharun is a bigot, homophobic, antigay person. >> reporter: we should note here none of the charges are directly connected to clementi's death and clementi's death can't be brought up inside that courtroom. >> real quick. did you say witness was laughing about the text messages he had with ravi? >> reporter: he spent a fair amount of time chuckling and laughing. it was difficult to discern whether it was a nervous laugh or how seriously he's taking this. >> wow, that's -- that's, that's alarming. thank you so much for joining
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us. we appreciate it. here's a look at some other stories topping the news now. a two-year legal battle over john edwards' sex tape is over. a settlement was reached between rielle hunter and andrew young. he has given up the ownership that he claimed he had over the tape and a judge ordered that it must be destroyed within 30 days, but edwards still facing several criminal charges stemming from his attempts to conceal the affair. churches in the baltimore area are vowing to overturn a law that legalizes same-sex marriage in maryland. they approved a measure, martin o'malley says he'll sign the bill next week, but baltimore's cardinal says it threatens families. virginia state senate will vote today on a controversial version of a ultrasound bill. it would require women seeking abortion to undergo an
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ultrasound and wait 24 hours. a previous version would have allowed them too undergo an invasive ultrasound. the governor backed down from the bill this week saying he didn't realize how invasive the procedure would be. under the new bill, it is voluntary. seven states are asking a federal judge to block a mandate that requires birth control coverage for pelosi at hospitals, schools and outreach programs affiliated with religious institutions. it also claims it violates first amendment rights of groups who oppose contraceptives. that was announced as part of obama's federal health care law. is rick santorum winning over women? a new "washington post" abc news poll shows the former senator gaining in popularity among women in the gop. joining us to morning is amy garter of "the washington post" to talk about this. thanks so much for being on the
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show. >> glad to be here. thanks. >> this is an interesting phenomenon that i want you to take me and the audience through. rick santorum, someone who's had a checkered past in terms of women's rights. i want to put up a quote he had said in thhis book in 2005, it takes a family. get that on the screen here. the radical feminists succeeded in undermining the traditional family and convincing women that professional accomplishments are the key to happiness. so rick santorum not too thrilled and women in the workplace, but he seems to be getting a lot of support amongst female republicans? >> it's a little counterintuitive. i think we were all a little bit surprised his favorablety, you know, his popularity among women within the republican electorate has actually ticked up substantially since the beginning of the year. about 13 points. he still trails romney in popularity among women republican voters and there's also some polling data out from other folks that romney is doing
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better specifically in the contests that are come up. michigan and arizona and that's important to look at the specific contests that are at hand. but it's definitely a surprise. it says something about the differences about the gop female electorate and the female electorate overall and what women who are independents and democrats might do. i still think and i think the broad view is that all of the republican candidates are fairly untested when it comes to the overall women vote and that vote is going to be absolutely crucial in the fall. >> aim, let's talk about that because where there is a yen, there's that yang. i want to put up on the screen here, you see santorum amongst democratic women, unfavorablety, 40%. romney, 45%. gingrich, 53%. independents -- >> isn't it interesting that santorum's unpopularity if you
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you know, as it were, is not as bad as the other two and doi think that's a little counterintuitive because as your headlines a moment ago pointed out with the whole battle over contraceptives and whether religious institutions ought to be required to supply them, rick santorum has been at the forefront of that issue and has made quite a few statements and the sort of conventional wisdom has been that would be damaging to him with women and here he is actually looking like he's doing better than his leading competitors in the republican field. >> politics is all about the unpredictable. thanks so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. a potential party crasher at this sunday's academy awards. >> will you or will you not be walking the red carpet at the academy awards on sunday? >> well, those folks at the academy have banned me and
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normally, i would be impressed by the acts of a faceless regime, but this is personal. >> that was our own ann curry with sacha baron cohen, who was in character for a movie called "the dictator." he has been banned from this weekend's oscars. this morning, the dictator issued an ultimatum. give him his tickets or oil prices will go up. don't want to mess with the dictator too much on this. home protector plus from liberty mutual insurance... [ alarm blaring ] where the cost to repair your home, replace what's inside, and stay somewhere else if you need to are covered. because you never know what lies around the corner. to learn more, visit libertymutual.com today. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow.
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donation. there's at least one person who wasn't offended by pete hoist tra's ad and loved it. mr. 9- $70 to mill to fill his gas tank. for the record, a 2008 hummer h -- the beast gets about eight mills a gallon. the west beats the president for fuel efficiency, but i don't
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think that his car can take a bomb. that is where the extra gas goes. i can dream can't i? [ male announcer ] kraft macaroni & cheese. you know you love it. spark card from capital one. spark cash gives me the most rewards of any small business credit card. it's hard for my crew to keep up with 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. 2% cash back. that's setting the bar pretty high. thanks to spark, owning my own business has never been more rewarding. [ male announcer ] introducing spark the small business credit cards from capital one. get more by choosing unlimited double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day. what's in your wallet? this guy's amazing.
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the return of the male shopper as the economy grows healthier, men are starting to buy again, not just clothes either, accessories like bags and hats and bracelets are driving sales so much that forecasters are predicting a 20-year sales high for men's clothing and accessories in. i'm joined by kim palmer, is this a sign that the economy is back? >> it is. it shows that consumer confidence is coming back, as that happens, women and men are ready to spend. we are tired of denying ourselves and act fiesing and retailers are tapping into the fact that men represent a huge untapped market.
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there's a lot of room for growth in reaching out to men. >> spending is up 14%, up $6 billion? >> it is and that shows throughout the recession, shoppers held back. before the recession, we saw male shoppers starting to come into their own, and now we are seeing a more pronounced version of that. retailers are giving the men what they want. men like to look good and feel good just like women shoppers. >> you know, i'm still rocking my l.l. bean backpack from high school. thank you for coming on the program. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> that wraps up things for me. thomas roberts, the man, you know and love will be back on tuesday. have a great weekend, "now" is next. alex wagner, what do you have coming up? how are you in new york city?
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>> with all the talk about male shopper s i think you are headig to vineyard vines this weekend. >> you know me too well. >> i do. thank you, luke, happy friday, and have a great weekend. how ready is president obama for november 6th, he has it circled in red on his calendar and he and his team are prepping for a mother of a fight. newt gingrich is unveiling his economic plan, will he score? and it's friday, we will look at "what just happened?" mainly the battle between good and satan, all that when "now" starts in 180 seconds. would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye-care experts at bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. [ male announcer ] ocuvite has a unique formula
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♪ the cadillac cts. ♪ we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs. ♪ you and me and the big old tree ♪ ♪ side by side, one, two, three ♪ ♪ count the birds in the big old tree ♪ ♪ la la la [ male announcer ] the inspiring story of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. ♪ ♪ you and me and the big old tree side by side ♪ but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the charming outfits. take away the sprites, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes...
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